carved in stone
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Somewhere in the Universe the words of this book are carved in stone, alongside Shakespeare's sonnets. It is shamelessly nostalgic and even heart-breaking. Also when Laurie is funny, he's very funny. I was brought up in Stroud and lots of us knew him. He was the only famous person we'd ever produced. Incidentally the 1st BBC TV adaptation in about the 70s starring an actress called somebody Leech I think, contained my parents, though they're difficult to spot, and indeed half the district, so it seems. I have several videos of it. I don't know if it's available on DVD though. It has a sad, sad ending
Those of you who love this book like I do, might like to try Twenty Years A-Growing (Oxford Paperbacks) by Maurice O'Sullivan, if you haven't already. Another coming of age book, it has also become a part of me, always available in the recesses of my mind
FredPotter
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Be transported through time and space!
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I love this book. Our headmaster often used to read passages from it in morning assemley decades ago, and it stayed with me since then. The language is beautifully eloquent, and the author gives us a wonderfully realistic look into country life all that time ago. I especially loved the chapter about his mother, describing her with such honesty but love too, that I felt I'd known her myself. This weekend read was better than a weekend break in the country !
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Eloquent
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This is a wonderfully told memoir of Lee's childhood in the remote Cotswold village of Stroud. He tells of how he grew up being raised in a one-parent family, his father having left them when he was just 3 years old. His mother believed for all of her life that one day her husband would return home to them, but sadly he never did. He used to send them a few pounds to support the home each week but Lee's life was one of poverty and hardship, yet he still took delight in many of the simple things in life. Lee's style of writing is beautifully descriptive and depicts a world before technology such as mobile phones and computers were even imagined. Sometimes funny, often sad, but extremely eloquently told, in this book Laurie Lee brings the distant past back to life and I highly recommend it.
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A sort of cross between a novel and a biographical prose poem
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This very richly written descriptive of a childhood so fondly remembered is a piece of pure writing, straight from the heart, and rightly stands as a classic. It is of course a thing of a type, and this type of work helps to show how hugely wide the category of 'novel' writing is. This is a work straddling the far border of fiction and factual based biography but written for the enjoyment of description and depiction by a lover of language. It's worth a read by anyone whatever they're tastes, but I expect not too many thriller readers will be drawn to reading it. I liked it because it's clearly written by a lover of both life and language, but did find it a very rich cake. I can actually see why some would dislike it as a novel. Those who pick up a novel wanting to be told a story, rather than simply be taken to another world, may well feel cheated by it. It is without doubt though beautifully written.
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Brilliant
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I love this book esp the illustrated version, the writing is so rich and conjures up vivid images that jump straight off the page. read it in school and enjoyed it read it again as an adult and still enjoyed it. I would read it again, which is very unusual for me. Classic
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